A blaze started at the Taverners Club on Heritage Road in Batley at 4am and firefighters were concerned that it could spread so acted swiftly.

The pub was destroyed by the blaze, but a team of firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the pub to save a neighbouring house.

Watch Manager Jonathan Lee, of Dewsbury Fire Station’s Red Watch, said: “The building itself was unsavable when we arrived, but there was the property next door so we had to prevent the fire spreading to that.

“A fire investigation team is down there trying to establish the cause.”

The Dewsbury crews were backed up by their colleagues from Cleckheaton and Ossett.